A Jeffco Public Schools charter school in Arvada will be closed through May 8 after one of its students tested positive for the H1N1 flu.

Lynn Setzer, spokeswoman for the district, said the student is expected to make a full recovery, but Excel Academy will be closed this week "as a precaution." The school's 450 students will work from home during the week.

State health officials have confirmed four cases of H1N1 in Colorado, including two cases in Jeffco, with each patient expected to fully recover. The other Jeffco case was reported to be a man in his 20s.

The Evergreen Children’s Chorale is taking audiences back to the legendary days of ancient China. The ECC’s latest production of “Mulan, Jr.” brings the animated 1998 Disney movie to the stage. “Mulan” is a cultural cornucopia of traditional music, dance and storytelling that is a feast for the eyes and ears.

The big snow has come and gone. It was not quite as much as we had a few years ago, but it was more than we needed at one time. I measured 3½ feet at our house, but it was so warm that much of it melted as it fell, and it weighed so much that it compacted what had already fallen. So, measurements were less than accurate. I decided that the actual depth didn’t much matter. After you pass 2 feet of wet heavy snow, most of the roads are closed and the damage to power lines has been done.

Journalists are captivated by anniversaries, and that’s one of our biggest failings. The tendency, after an arbitrary number of years, is to find morals and endings, to tie up the loose strings of a tragedy and pronounce the community ready to move on.

Have you ever noticed how every year is the most amazing something in people’s memories? We’ve never had a drier winter. We’ve never had a hotter summer. That’s the best team we’ve ever had. I’ve never seen someone behave so badly. It’s usually not true. Time has a tendency of evening things out.

The article in the Canyon and Columbine couriers on April 22 may have given the impression that Jefferson County’s social services fund would leave the Head Start program short $650,000 and in violation of federal law.

At the state level, next year’s elections may shape up to be a referendum on government spending. And the most obvious change in direction could come in the governor’s race, where this issue has become a significant point of difference between Gov. Ritter and his critics.